Teaching and Learning Update
Athol Road Primary School
Building Mathematical Fluency
An important part of developing strong mathematical understanding is becoming fluent with basic number facts. Fact fluency means being able to recall facts accurately, efficiently and increasingly automatically, without needing to work out each answer from the beginning.
In the Junior School, students focus on developing automatic recall of addition and subtraction facts. Once students have developed a strong foundation with these facts, students in Years 3–6 build their fluency with multiplication and division facts.
When students can recall number facts quickly and confidently, they have more mental capacity available to focus on the mathematics they are learning. Rather than using valuable working memory to calculate basic facts, students can concentrate on solving problems, choosing strategies, identifying patterns and explaining their mathematical thinking.
For example, when solving a more complex multiplication problem, a student who is fluent with their multiplication facts can focus on the steps needed to solve the problem rather than becoming stuck working out individual facts along the way.
Fact fluency also supports students to:
develop greater confidence and efficiency when working with numbers
recognise number relationships and patterns
solve mathematical problems more efficiently
develop mental computation strategies
build a strong foundation for more complex mathematics.
Students are regularly practising their number facts during Mathematics lessons. The goal is not simply to memorise answers, but to develop accuracy, understanding, speed and automaticity over time.
Through regular opportunities to practise and apply their facts, students are working towards being able to retrieve facts quickly and confidently. As their fluency develops, these facts become increasingly automatic, allowing students to use them flexibly when tackling more challenging mathematics.
Building fact fluency is an important part of our mathematics program and provides students with the strong number foundation they need to become confident, capable and flexible mathematicians.
Tawny Harkness
Assistant Principal – Teaching and Learning